


Thank You, Everyone.

by Ichimuune



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Family, Feels, Funeral, Gen, Loss, Pain, Paying Respects, Squad members, respect, survey corps
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-15
Updated: 2013-09-15
Packaged: 2017-12-26 15:21:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/967541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ichimuune/pseuds/Ichimuune
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Levi sneaks up to the top of Wall Rose to overlook the territory beyond, holding something small in his hands, and something even bigger inside. No one knows he's slipped away for a bit. This is something he needs to do...alone. One-shot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Thank You, Everyone.

**Author's Note:**

> Okay guys. This is my first attempt at a Levi fic. I am not sure if I am going to get his personality right, but...here goes. 
> 
> I also wanted to thank Hikariix over on Deviantart.com. Halfway through writing this I knew I wanted to have his teammates speak to him, and this person's picture was the perfect fit. The picture is called "Thank You" and they did an AMAZING job on it. It's simple, and because of that it's heartwrenching. I borrowed the words from that picture, because it was just too perfect. So thankyou, Hikariix, for being my inspiration.  
> I recommend listening to "No Prisoners, Only Trophies" Transformers: Dark of the Moon while reading this. I used this music because it is incredibly moving, and it's the perfect "make major feels" music.
> 
> Now....go, and read.

The sun lit golden rays across the expanding fields that had been taken from the humans five years ago. No one dared go back, save for the Survey Corps. The Titans made absolutely sure of that.

Each leaf and blade of grass seemed as if it were dipped in a thin layer of gold as the sun began to set that day. A soft gust of wind blew across the high tops of Wall Rose, playing with thin strands of short, ebon hair that was also graced by the liquid gold that the sun layered upon everything this time of day. The owner of the ebon hair didn't move as he stared out across the fields, his steel-blue eyes resting on a particular batch of forest far off in the distance.

His eyes seemed hard, unreadable. Years of training and death had taught him to keep his emotions in check. In the battlefield, showing emotion and losing control cost lives. Today....today had proven that theory. Over and over his mind went over the events starting from the moment he heard Eren's Titan cry through the forest. He downright KNEW that Eren trusted his companions enough to not transform unless it was absolutely vital to his life.

Which meant something had happened. 

At that moment, fear had flashed through his heart for a brief moment before he capped it, twisting his body and redirecting his cables and shooting off in the direction of that cry. It would only be a few moments before he happened upon the clearing that would stab him harder and deeper into his soul than he would have ever guessed. 

Erd.

Auruo.

Petra.

All three of them in distorted angles and covered in their own blood burned deep into his mind. He slowed and dangled in the air for a moment via his cables next to Petra, staring at how she had been unceremoniously smashed against a tree, her spine broken in several places. Blood coated the tree above her, still wet and dripping down the bark, staining more and more of her once-forest green cloak. Pain, deep and hot, burned in his heart. It would take him only a moment, though, to cap those feelings and move on. Eren was fighting, and who knew who else might be in the midst of a Titan battle. Now was not the time for grieving.

Levi glanced down at his hand; he held four flowers. Three of them were for the three he found. The last was for Gunter, another member of his squad that had been killed by the Female Titan when she was in human form. The blue-purple flowers waved gently in the soft breeze as he held them. He closed his eyes a moment, feeling the breeze as it washed over him. He almost swore he could see the smiling faces of all four members in his mind's eye. Each one seemed to flash in front of him slowly.

But hearing their voices was the last thing he expected.

"Dear Captain...Thankyou for choosing us..." Erd's voice sounded like it was part of the wind, blowing softly in Levi's ears.

"Thankyou for being a good role model." Auruo's words seemed gentle and yet teasing, trailing on Erd's words, adding to them. Then, out of nowhere, Gunter spoke, his words light and cheerful.

"Thankyou for trusting us."

"Please keep Eren safe." Petra's words followed Gunter's, playing on the slowly dying sunlight as Levi's eyes opened again. And still, more words came, carried on the breeze that blew gently across the town below and behind him. But the words this time were not just one...but all of them together.

"We surrendered our hearts to you, and we have no regrets. Don't be too hard on yourself, because you are humanity's strongest...in more ways than one."

The voices faded softly, carried away out to the open fields beyond the walls that held the last population of the human race.

A soft sound of crunching could be heard as Levi's fist clenched around the stems of the flowers. His shoulders shook just barely, but no one could ever tell. He was too high up and no one knew he was up here. After a moment he knelt down, placing the flowers near the edge of the wall, spreading them out, but crossing the stems together. It was a symbol that meant they would always be together. Levi swallowed quietly as he stared at the flowers on the ground, his body still shaking slightly. Everything he felt within was fighting to come out. Fighting to make him come unglued at the loss of those he considered family.

He stood again slowly, still staring down at the flowers. One by one, a vision of each of his squad members seemed to fade in, then out over the flowers. They had been good soldiers, good friends...no one could ever replace them.

He turned his gaze back to the forest, realizing the sun was dipping lower, setting to his left. The trees now seemed like they were covered in a red-gold now, the dimming light turning everything into a reddish-orange hue. The forest in the distance looked like it was caught in some kind of fiery glow. It was fitting, Levi mused, considering that had they been able to recover the bodies, they would be holding a bonfire tonight for the funerals.

Levi closed his eyes again, and took a deep, shuddering breath. His fists clenched again as his feet suddenly snapped together, his right arm raising in the customary salute, his fist resting over his heart. His maneuver gear clanked and bumped against his legs lightly. Briefly he felt comforted by the movement; it meant he was still alive, still able to fight, and still able to carry on the strength and legacy of his teammates.

A harder gust of wind blew at the moment of his salute, as if nature itself recognized the meaning and tried to carry the action across the land to those it was meant for. Levi opened his eyes, but they were no longer hard and unreadable.

His brows were upturned slightly and scrunched together. His eyes portrayed the sadness that had been filling him for the last half of the day. 

And glistening in the sunlight, a single tear slid down his cheek, followed by another one, and another. The tears stained his cloak, and dripped onto his fist as he held his salute, still staring outwards. He couldn't see how through the blur that blinded him with his own pain. Twin lines of that same pain, sorrow and agony lined both sides of his face now, hidden up high on the wall that shakily protected humanity, where no one would see him break down.

**Author's Note:**

> Thankyou all for reading, and I hope I helped give you all a little bit of closure here.
> 
> May they rest in peace.


End file.
